Evolving Democracy and STEAMing BIG History

“That’s the problem with the Malagasy people” my biology student, Etienne, explained to me in response to hearing about the recent theft of seven new computers in our neighboring psychology department. Etienne isn’t in any of my classes, but many students across our small institution are terribly upset by the loss of this scarce resource. These seven computers were to be shared by over 75 students, and now there are none.

Thanks Hank- importantly - the stolen computers were not ones donated by IEET - all of our donations are under strict management… And now with the new Student Technology Leadership Committee, these accountability measures should stop this problem! The cell phones have been an okay start - but it’s clear - the need for our students is basic full-size computing!

Posted by Intomorrow on 08/27 at 01:06 AM

My mind drifts towards irrelevancies; however in this case can possibly offer a tangent somewhat on-target: a student in a third world nation can if necessary sleep with a device to prevent theft. For a random example, a pouch can be sewed into pajamas to store the device at night. Whether or not in a third world location such would lead to armed robberies of sleepers, cannot say. But after High School I lived in allegedly first world NYC—and slept with valuables on a fairly regular basis.

“The entire point of the article is actually that the actual crime here is not so much worse than any other city…. the problem is merely the lack of pillars of democracy in university management”

Sorry, missed the larger picture. but no pawn shops? egads.

Sorry, missed the larger picture. But no pawn shops? egads, what is the world coming to?

“The cell phones have been an okay start - but it’s clear - the need for our students is basic full-size computing!”

Intomorrow - I thank you for your thoughts, but respectfully disagree…. The entire point of the article is actually that the actual crime here is not so much worse than any other city…. the problem is merely the lack of pillars of democracy in university management….

There are no pawn shops, likely the computers have been dispersed to the children of some University administrator…. So we are quite confident our new system of transparency and strict accountability (based on Wilson, Ostrom & Cox 2013) will fix this problem